Beauty brand packaging is notorious lately for being drenched in white hues, sans-serif typography, and a lack of whimsy. However bland, it does make sense; these brands want to come across as clean and pristine as their products promise your skin will be. Yet, the ingrained flat aesthetic has created shelves of monotonous packaging that blend together, creating a sea of redundancy.
Yet, Current State is a new skincare line breaking the mold. The brand’s visual identity sits at the intersection of reliable and graphically modern, creating an aesthetic that toes the line of being perfectly loud while still being a skincare brand that consumers can trust. “The clean lines of the components themselves juxtaposed with the color blocking on the retail cartons allow the brand to have two lives: one on a retail shelf and one on your home shelf. Personally, that excites me!” states Emily Parr, Co-Founder of Current State.
The packaging, designed by Werner Design Werks, is meant to be receptive to an expansive audience. “Although the core audience was already broad, we wanted to halo out even further to include men as well as younger and older women,” mentions Sharon Werner, Founder of Werner Design Werks, “With that, we also wanted the branding to be less prescriptive and be able to mix and match products and coordinate with each other. The overall vibe of the packaging is sophisticated yet fun. Not too specifically feminine or masculine.”
To move against the pastel and white packaging designs, overwhelming the shelves, the design team made a bold statement through color, incorporating emotions through each design. Yet, while the colors act as a playful approach to each product, the gridded design balances the explosively vibrant hues. “There isn’t one core brand color; there are 30+ – which is probably breaking Branding Rules 101. Product-specific colors were determined by the product category,” states Werner. “For instance, Hydrating should feel hydrating but not necessarily a cliche version of that – so purple and light blue with a contrast of a pop of yellow. We wanted a gentle, soothing color palette for exfoliating products that didn’t communicate irritation. So we chose medium cool gray and soothing light green with a pop of peach and yellow.”
Using color in a market that’s not used to the vibrancy instantly gives a brand shelf appeal, yet Current State has taken it one step further by using a massive range of hues. Yet, employing the same format for each product causes the line to feel cohesive and organized, ideal for consumers with short attention spans and a million and one products to choose from.
